Flight Tracking System

Identified the pain point of manually checking flight statuses. Surveyed flight data APIs (AviationStack, FlightAware) and notification providers.

Tested multiple flight APIs for accuracy and rate limits. Picked AviationStack for live data, Twilio for SMS, and SendGrid for email.

Built the Express.js server with REST endpoints for flight search, tracking subscriptions, and notification triggers. Added request validation and a unified error handler.

Wired Twilio SMS and SendGrid email behind a queue that batches sends and respects rate limits. Added retry-with-backoff for transient failures.

Built the React dashboard with real-time flight path visualisation, departure/arrival boards, and a flight search with autocomplete.

Added WebSocket connections for live status updates, including push notifications for delays and gate changes.

Simulated delays, cancellations, and diversions. Stress-tested notification delivery under load and reached a 99.5% delivery rate.

Moved every API key server-side, enforced rate limiting, sanitised inputs, and required HTTPS end-to-end.

Restructured to a monorepo with shared types between frontend and backend. Unified linting and build scripts to improve developer experience.

Deployed to Vercel with environment-based configs. Added health-check endpoints and lightweight uptime monitoring.